Apparatus for conveying carpets



May 23, 1967 E. WILFORD APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CARPETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 20, 1964 May 23, 1967 E. WILFORD APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CARPETS 2 Sheets-Shea t 2 Filed July 20. 1964 United States Patent 3,320,647 APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CARPETS Ernest Wilford, Crossflatts, Bingley, England, assignor to The Bradford Dyers Association Limited, Bradford, England, a British company Filed July 20, 1964, Ser. No. 383,776 Claims priority, application Great Britain, July 19, 1963, 28,726/ 63 8 Claims. (Cl. 262) This invention relates to methods of and means for conveying carpets having woven backings.

When a carpet is dyed or printed it must commonly be passed through a large chamber in which it is subjected to the action of steam to set the colouring matter. It is very important that the carpet should pass through this chamber without being creased, since if one section of it touches another the pattern of the dyeing or printing will be spoiled.

In the steaming chamber the carpet commonly travels in a series of deep loops extending from driven horizontal rollers close to the top of the chamber. This formation of loops is necessary in order that a large quantity of carpet may be held within the steaming chamber for the desired time without making the chamber extremely large.

I have found that the carpet will fall to the bottom of each loop without any difficulty, but on being lifted by the next roller tends to crease. I have further found that the cause of this creasing is differential shrinkage of the warp threads in the backing of the carpet, which is commonly of hessian. The warp threads which have shrunk become responsible for lifting the whole weight of the carpet, and those which have not shrunk and thus are not under considerable tension tend to turn and lie will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of one apparatus;

FIGURE 2 shows part of the apparatus of FIGURE 1 on a larger scale;

FIGURE 3 is a part-section on the line IIIIII in FIG- URE 2 with the carpet omitted;

FIGURE 4 diagrammatically shows a modified construction; and

FIGURE 5 diagrammatically shows another modification.

The apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 comprises a steaming chamber 1 in which a carpet that has been printed is to be subjected to the action of steam to set the colouring matter. The carpet enters the chamber 1 through an inlet 2, travels through the chamber in a series of deep loops 3 which extend downwards from horizontal rollers 4, and leaves the chamber through an outlet 5. It passes from this through a washing bath 6 and then through the nip between withdrawal rollers 7.

The backing of the carpet travels in contact with each roller 4, and throughout the lower half of the upward run of each loop the backing is engaged by endless rope conveyors 8. All the ropes 8 in engagement with any one loop 3 pass round an upper horizontal roller 9 and a lower horizontal roller 10, together with a tensioning roller 11, all these rollers extending transversely across the chamber. The rollers 9 and 10 are located so that the length of rope between them displaces the upward run of the loop out of its natural path, and in turn the displaced loop displaces the rope out of the straight line 1 between the rollers 9 and 10. Thus the carpet is fricon the parts that are under tension. Considerable creases are easily formed, with the result that patches of the carpet come into contact with one another.

The disadvantage that arises when a wet carpet having a woven backing is caused to travel in deep loops that extend from driven horizontal rollers is avoided according to the invention by the application to the back faces of the upward runs of the loops of forces acting both upwards and outwards on each side of the centre line of the carpet. These forces serve both to lift the carpet and to spread it outwards. It is normally found that if they are applied over, but only over, substantially the whole of the lower half of each upward run creasing is avoided.

In apparatus according to the invention there are upwardly moving conveying elements mounted to make contact with the back faces only of the upward runs of the loops and outwardly inclined from the centre line of the carpet on each side thereof. Each conveying element may be endless and most conveniently constituted by a length of rope, or all the conveying elements may be formed by a single length of rope. Such ropes may be made from nylon bonded to a rubber core and thus may be -elastic, or from nylon or polyester fibres that have been tensioned. Instead of rope we may use stainless steel chain or V-belts.

Naturally there should be an equal number of ropes or equivalent elements on each side of the centre line of the carpet, so that equal and opposite forces are applied along the centre line of the carpet to produce weft-wise stretching.

Preferably there are upper and lower horizontal rollers around which the conveying elements pass and which are so located that the length of the conveying element travelling between them is displaced out of its natural path of travel by the heavy loop of carpet.

The preferred apparatus according to the invention 1 guides 14 through which the ropes pass.

tionally engaged by each rope.-

' The chamber is spanned by upper and lower transverse bars 12 and 13, one of each for each loop of the carpet. The bar 12 forms an anchorage for U-shaped Spacers 15 project from the bar 13 to act also as guides. 'These guides 14 and 15 are so'placed that on each side of the centre line the ropes are not only upwardly but also outwardly inclined. This is clearly shown by FIGURE 3, where the centre line is marked AA and the ropes 8 are at a greater distance apart, say 9 inches, as they pass over the roller 9 than as they pass over the roller 10 where they may be, say, 6 inches apart.

The driving mechanism is omitted from FIGURE 1 for the sake of clarity, but is shown in FIGURE 2. There is a main horizontal driving shaft 20, which drives shafts 21 (one for each loop) through gearing 22. Each shaft 21 enters an infinitely variable gear box 23. Each roller 4 is positively driven by the output shaft 24 of the corresponding gear box 23 through gearing not shown. The provision of the infinitely variable gear allows the speed of the rollers 4 to be independently adjustable so as to vary the depth of the loops as required.

Each roller 9 is driven by a chain 25 from the roller 4, and in turn each roller 10 is driven by a chain 26 from the roller 9. The gearing is preferably such that the roller 9 moves at the same surface speed as the roller 4, so that the rope 8 moves upwards at the same speed as the carpet, but it is found that the rope speed may be from 10 to 15% faster than the carpet speed.

In the constructioin shown in FIGURE 4 a single endless rope 16 passes round the rollers 9 and 10 and around additional guide wheels 17 and 18. Each upwardly running length of this rope 16 constitutes a conveying element. In order to adjust the tension in the rope 16 the bearings of the idler pulleys 17 and 18 may be mounted to slide in slots 27 and 28 respectively, so that they can be fixed in position at any desired points along these slots.

In both the constructions so far described the conveying elements extend over substantially thewhole of the lower half of the upward run of each loop. If it is found that this arrangement is not enough to prevent creasing, additional endless ropes, or a second single endless rope, may be provided to engage the upper half of the upward run as indicated diagrammatically at 19 in FIGURE 5.

Naturally various other modifications may be made. For example grooves may be made in the horizontal rollers to cause each rope or length of rope to travel in the desired path instead of using spacers or guides.

It is to be observed that the conveying elements provided in the invention merely engage the backing of the carpet in the course of each upward run, and do not pass over the horizontal rollers 4 beneath the carpet. It is found that any rope or the equivalent which .does this produces score marks on the carpet.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for conveying carpets or other pile fabrics through a treatment chamber without contacting the front surface of the fabric, comprising chamber means, a plurality of horizontal spaced parallel rollers journaled in said chamber and driven to support and convey a fabric through said chamber with said fabric depending between adjacent rollers to form deep loops having the front surface of the fabric uppermost and each loop having a downward run and an upward run, auxiliary conveyor means mounted in said chamber exterior of said downwardly extending loops and adjacent the lower half of each upward run of a fabric loop in frictional contact with the back face of said fabric and driven to aid in lifting and spreading the upward run of each carpet loop.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising additional auxiliary conveyer means mounted in said chamber adjacent the upper half of each upward run of a carpet loop between said first mentioned auxiliary conveyer means and a respective horizontal roller and frictionally contacting the back face of said carpet to aid in lifting and spreading the upward run of each carpet loop.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said auxiliary conveyer means is comprised of an upper roller and a lower roller each having a length substantially equal to the width of the carpet being conveyed, means for driving said rollers and conveying means entrained about said upper and lower rollers and frictionally engaging the back surface of said carpet over substantially the entire lower half of said upward run to aid in lifting and spreading said upward run.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said conveying means is comprised of a plurality of endless loops of rope.

5. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said conveying means is comprised of a single endless length of rope disposed about said rollers to form a plurality of conveyor strand elements between the upper and lower rollers.

6. An apparatus according to claim 3 whereinsaid drivingmeans is common to said parallel rollers and said auxiliary conveying means. 4

7. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said conveying means is comprised of a plurality of strands of rope entrained about said upper and lower rollers with strands on each side of the midpoint of said lower roller diverging outwardly and upwardly from the lower roller to the upper roller to smooth and spread said carpetwhile lifting said carpet.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 further comprising guide means mounted in said chamber adjacent said upper and lower rollers to guide said strands along diverging paths.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,598,627 9/1926 Voegeli 2663 2,474,717 6/1949 Belcher 8151 3,043,244 7/ 1962 Engels. 3,195,187 7/1965 Kalwaites 19161 X FOREIGN PATENTS 2,956 1886 Great Britain.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING CARPETS OR OTHER PILE FABRICS THROUGH A TREATMENT CHAMBER WITHOUT CONTACTING THE FRONT SURFACE OF THE FABRIC, COMPRISING CHAMBER MEANS, A PLURALITY OF HORIZONTAL SPACED PARALLEL ROLLERS JOURNALED IN SAID CHAMBER AND DRIVEN TO SUPPORT AND CONVEY A FABRIC THROUGH SAID CHAMBER WITH SAID FABRIC DEPENDING BETWEEN ADJACENT ROLLERS TO FORM DEEP LOOPS HAVING THE FRONT SURFACE OF THE FABRIC UPPERMOST AND EACH LOOP HAVING A DOWNWARD RUN AND AN UPWARD RUN, AUXILIARY CONVEYOR MEANS MOUNTED IN SAID CHAMBER EXTERIOR OF SAID DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING LOOPS AND ADJACENT THE LOWER HALF OF EACH UPWARD RUN OF A FABRIC LOOP IN FRICTIONAL CONTACT WITH THE BACK FACE OF SAID FABRIC AND DRIVEN TO AID IN LIFTING AND SPREADING THE UPWARD RUN OF EACH CARPET LOOP. 